How do last nights numbers look?

[kaybaby]

Thank you for any help,

Kay

[Julie]

How do they look to you? How do you feel?

[Wulfman...]

Looks good to me.
If you feel good, that's even better.


Den

.

[kaybaby]

I am waking with headaches that I'm trying to figure out where they are coming from. They are similar to what I felt prior to starting therapy. I'm also having some nights with aerophagia, it's very painful.

Kay

[Julie]

Kay, did you ask your doctor for more investigation re your headaches?

Did you read up on the aerophagia?

[robysue]

I am waking with headaches that I'm trying to figure out where they are coming from. They are similar to what I felt prior to starting therapy.

How long have you been PAPing? And any history of non-OSA headaches---as in migraines or tension headaches?

I'm also having some nights with aerophagia, it's very painful.

You have my sympathy as someone who has dealt with some pretty severe aerophagia at times.

Your efficacy data looks quite good. The Leak curve is pretty good. But there does seem to be a lot of variation in the peaks in the flow rate curve, particularly after about 4:30 or 5:00. That can indicate a lot of restlessness. And restlessness can lead to swallowing. And swallowing leads to aerophagia. And aerophagia can lead to more restlessness, which leads to more swallowing and more aerophagia.

In other words, you may be dealing with a feedback loop of restlessness and aerophagia.

So: How restless do you feel during the night? Do you think you are waking up a lot during the night? Are you waking up with aerophagia during the night or only during the morning?

Also, how fast do you get uncomfortable from aerophagia when you are lying in bed with the machine on, but you are not (yet) asleep?

[Nathan C. Morales]

Your numbers look better than mine, so that's good. I have mild aerophagia, but nothing about which to be concerned. I pray it improves for you!

[kaybaby]

Thank you all for responding. I am restless and average around 4 hours of sleep per night. The rest is spent staring at the ceiling. I do get froggy when I'm tossing and turning. I have no doubt I'm gulping air. Mental note to stop made the gulp.

The headaches are similar to the ones I would get prior to starting therapy for my hypopnea. I also have pain in the occipital area of my skull. Me thinks, I'm grinding my teeth again. Mouth guard is now on at night.

Not sure how my handsome hubby puts up with my face mask, mouth guard and eye mask. I also put lotion on my hands every night and sleep with gloves so they will be soft in the morning. He must love this insane looking nighttime beast.

Kay

[robysue]

Thank you all for responding. I am restless and average around 4 hours of sleep per night. The rest is spent staring at the ceiling. I do get froggy when I'm tossing and turning. I have no doubt I'm gulping air. Mental note to stop made the gulp.

How long does it take you to fall asleep at the beginning of the night and how uncomfortable are you?

How many times would you guess you are waking up during the night AND then having serious problems falling back to sleep?

Has the restlessness increased since starting CPAP?

The reason I ask is that you may need to work on taming what appears to be an insomnia beast that is settling into your bedroom. Until you start sleeping more of the time you are in bed, you are likely to not feel particularly well during the day---simply not getting enough sleep can lead to headaches.

[kaybaby]

Thank you all for responding. I am restless and average around 4 hours of sleep per night. The rest is spent staring at the ceiling. I do get froggy when I'm tossing and turning. I have no doubt I'm gulping air. Mental note to stop made the gulp.

How long does it take you to fall asleep at the beginning of the night and how uncomfortable are you?

How many times would you guess you are waking up during the night AND then having serious problems falling back to sleep?

Has the restlessness increased since starting CPAP?

The reason I ask is that you may need to work on taming what appears to be an insomnia beast that is settling into your bedroom. Until you start sleeping more of the time you are in bed, you are likely to not feel particularly well during the day---simply not getting enough sleep can lead to headaches.

I fall asleep fairly quickly at 10 - 11 pm. Awake at 2 or 3 am every day. I have tried just about everything to stay asleep, other than meds which I won't touch. I have seen an accupuncturist, chiropractor, sleep specialist, psychotherapist, and hypnosis. Oh and on a visit to India, an ayurvedic healer. It all started with Peri Menopause, since my old self is 51. I'm hanging in there and feel that I will move past this as my body finds its new normal.

Kay

[robysue]

I fall asleep fairly quickly at 10 - 11 pm. Awake at 2 or 3 am every day. I have tried just about everything to stay asleep, other than meds which I won't touch. I have seen an accupuncturist, chiropractor, sleep specialist, psychotherapist, and hypnosis. Oh and on a visit to India, an ayurvedic healer. It all started with Peri Menopause, since my old self is 51. I'm hanging in there and feel that I will move past this as my body finds its new normal.

Have you tried learning how to just accept the wake as normal and train yourself to not worry about it? It's pretty common for normal 50+ women to have a small number of very short wakes during the middle of the night, but the people who have good sleep usually don't remember the small number of wakes because they fall back asleep within 5 minutes or so of waking up. So if you are doing things that make it take longer to get back to sleep after waking in the middle of the night, what you may want to work on is teaching yourself to not over react to the wake.

In other words, when you find that you've woken up at 2 or 3 am, what's the first thing you do? Do you immediately look at the clock? And what's the first thing that goes through your mind? Is it some version of "Gee, I'm awake again and I don't want to be awake."?

After looking at the clock, do you start thinking about how much sleep you've gotten during the night and how close it is to the time the alarm goes off? Do you start worrying about the fact that you are awake? On bad nights, do you then have a lot of trouble getting back to sleep because you are so worried that you're going to be exhausted the next morning when you do have to get up? All of these things tend to prolong the wake, usually to the point where we can remember it in the morning and then worry about how it's messed up an otherwise decent night's sleep.

So if any of that is applicable to your situation, then what you ought to do is teach yourself to not worry about the wake. Don't look at the clock when you first wake up and don't try to figure out how much sleep you've gotten or how close it is to wake up time. Instead work on comfort issues:

• Is there a leak? If so, fix it, snuggle back down and allow yourself to go back to sleep.
• Do you just need to turn over? If so, turn over and get comfortable and snuggle back down and allow yourself to go back to sleep.
• Too hot or too cold? Adjust the covers and snuggle back down and allow yourself to go back to sleep.
• Dry mouth? Try to work it out and snuggle back down and allow yourself to go back to sleep. (Note: you say the cervical collar seems to have fixed most of this issue. You still might want a water bottle on the bedside table in case you need a drink to help the mouth since you say you don't like getting up because that makes it harder to get back to sleep.)
• No identifiable comfort issue to trigger the wake? Assume it's a normal post-REM wake and snuggle back down and allow yourself to go back to sleep.

As you can see, there's a theme here: Deal with any physical thing that might have triggered the wake and then don't obsess about it---just snuggle back down and allow yourself to get back to sleep.

[kaybaby]

I fall asleep fairly quickly at 10 - 11 pm. Awake at 2 or 3 am every day. I have tried just about everything to stay asleep, other than meds which I won't touch. I have seen an accupuncturist, chiropractor, sleep specialist, psychotherapist, and hypnosis. Oh and on a visit to India, an ayurvedic healer. It all started with Peri Menopause, since my old self is 51. I'm hanging in there and feel that I will move past this as my body finds its new normal.

Have you tried learning how to just accept the wake as normal and train yourself to not worry about it? It's pretty common for normal 50+ women to have a small number of very short wakes during the middle of the night, but the people who have good sleep usually don't remember the small number of wakes because they fall back asleep within 5 minutes or so of waking up. So if you are doing things that make it take longer to get back to sleep after waking in the middle of the night, what you may want to work on is teaching yourself to not over react to the wake.

In other words, when you find that you've woken up at 2 or 3 am, what's the first thing you do? Do you immediately look at the clock? And what's the first thing that goes through your mind? Is it some version of "Gee, I'm awake again and I don't want to be awake."?

After looking at the clock, do you start thinking about how much sleep you've gotten during the night and how close it is to the time the alarm goes off? Do you start worrying about the fact that you are awake? On bad nights, do you then have a lot of trouble getting back to sleep because you are so worried that you're going to be exhausted the next morning when you do have to get up? All of these things tend to prolong the wake, usually to the point where we can remember it in the morning and then worry about how it's messed up an otherwise decent night's sleep.

So if any of that is applicable to your situation, then what you ought to do is teach yourself to not worry about the wake. Don't look at the clock when you first wake up and don't try to figure out how much sleep you've gotten or how close it is to wake up time. Instead work on comfort issues:

• Is there a leak? If so, fix it, snuggle back down and allow yourself to go back to sleep.
• Do you just need to turn over? If so, turn over and get comfortable and snuggle back down and allow yourself to go back to sleep.
• Too hot or too cold? Adjust the covers and snuggle back down and allow yourself to go back to sleep.
• Dry mouth? Try to work it out and snuggle back down and allow yourself to go back to sleep. (Note: you say the cervical collar seems to have fixed most of this issue. You still might want a water bottle on the bedside table in case you need a drink to help the mouth since you say you don't like getting up because that makes it harder to get back to sleep.)
• No identifiable comfort issue to trigger the wake? Assume it's a normal post-REM wake and snuggle back down and allow yourself to go back to sleep.

As you can see, there's a theme here: Deal with any physical thing that might have triggered the wake and then don't obsess about it---just snuggle back down and allow yourself to get back to sleep.

I don't stress at all when I wake up. I have my clock covered, so I don't know what time it is anymore. I have accepted my sleep for what it is. I do, however, want to get to the bottom of the headaches. I will leave no stone unturned.

Kay

[Sonnyboy]

I know you use the oximeter. How are your oxygen levels?

Have you consulted with an internist and/or neurologist that specializes in headaches?

[Julie]

I asked about seeing a neurologist in her original thread and this one and have gotten no response... she's choosing to believe it's all Cpap/OSA related and not hearing that it might not be... nothing much we can do with that.

[Sonnyboy]

I asked about seeing a neurologist in her original thread and this one and have gotten no response... she's choosing to believe it's all Cpap/OSA related and not hearing that it might not be... nothing much we can do with that.

Sorry Julie and Kay, I missed that.

Kay will respond when she is ready.

I consulted a neurologist and learned my headaches are caused by cervical stenosis, but that's me.
There are so many causes of headaches and that's why a specialist is needed.